North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Patsy King" <pking888@gmail.com>]

Hello..some thoughts on codling moth, which seems to be one of my 2 main apple troubles in southwestern Oregon, zone 7 or 8.  

I had a huge percentage of codling invaded apples 2 years ago, but almost none last year.  I don't know if that is from some reason unrelated to my control efforts or whether my control attempts were successful, but I'll mention what the controls were that I tried so you may try reading up on them and see if you want to try them.  I am not at home as I write this so don't have access to my notes on dates and other details, but what I recall is that I tried spraying with NEEM for the first time last early spring.  I believe I had it mixed in with dormant oil, possibly in February. ( I am not at all sure that there is any codling activity at that time of the year, way before bud break here, so I wonder if that neem was a needed spray or not.  This year I did NOT use the neem in February.  This summer I may find out if pests are more numerous that might have been eliminated if I had used it again.)   I think neem is a scab control, but I would not think that my timing last year would have been at the right time for that.  However, I had almost no scab damage, so possibly the neem stayed on the trees long enough, or possibly last year simply was not a scab year for anybody in my area.

The other control I tried last year for the first time was SPINOSAD.  I understand that it is a caterpillar killer similar to BT but that spinosad has a much better residual effect than BT, making the timing of the spray less demanding since it has some activity for possibly 7 or 10 days if I am remembering right.   One big warning about spinosad is that it is TOXIC TO BEES, however, so you don't want to spray till all the petals have dropped in any case.   Last year I sprayed with the spinosad twice I think, 10 days apart.  What I don't have here is the date, but I believe it was in May.  I did put up 2 pheremone traps for the codlings to see when they were active, so that helped me determine the timing to spray the spinosad.

I also tried to inspect the apples quite often and picked off and disposed of any with stings as soon as I saw them, hoping to esentially trap them that way and destroy them before they reproduced.

I tried various molasses/vinegar/juice mixtures in jugs like you mentioned, Mark.  I've seen several somewhat similar recipes published in quite a few sources.  I want to try this method again because I did not inspect those jug traps well to see what I had caught.  I wonder if they might attract and kill beneficials, so this year I do want to try to determine that. I'm afraid I didn't even find out if I had caught the codling moths, themselves.  I do know how to recognize those and also their larvae. 

 However, in general, insect identification is a huge problem for me.  I have at least 8 or 10 books on insects and insect identification and also insect damage and control in farms and orchards, and I still find it too vast, since there are so many insect types, and they go through various stages that are not always illustrated in the books.  I am also hesitant to kill insects because so many are beneficial.   I believe it would be really helpful to learn the identification in person from somebody that walks your orchard and garden with you quite a few times!!   I know that I have found some websites with good insect information, and I will try to post links to those when I have access to my own computer.  But I think it would be wonderful if others will post links to their own favorite insect and disease identification/control sites.

Many sources tell the importance of picking up all fallen fruit and scabby leaves as soon as they fall, so preventing continuation of varoius pests' life cycles.

I have used the cardboard bands on the trunks of the trees and have caught a few codling pupae that way, but not terribly many.  I believe it is helpful to have larger currugations than some cardboard.  I have now scavenged through boxes and found some made of thicker stuff with the bigger corrugations and will try that this year.  I think one is also supposed to remove and burn the bands every week or so in order to kill the pupae before they hatch and leave.

Michael Phillips book The Apple Grower was mentioned, and there is now a second edition, which is supposed to have even more information.  I have not seen the new edition, but I heartily recommend Phillips' website.  It has links to lots of organic apple growing methods and he has a newsletter on his site with information of his own and I believe he has a discussion board of some sort.  I'll try to put a link here.  If it doesn't work, try googling "lost nation orchard" and click on "grow organic".

http://www.herbsandapples.com/orchard/edge.php?PHPSESSID=1b424e117741b344fb2dfb6cd74f6f46http://www.herbsandapples.com/orchard/edge.php?PHPSESSID=1b424e117741b344fb2dfb6cd74f6f46

Mark, I really enjoyed the info you had on possible host plants for beneficials.  Do you have any hints about where you have found mention of the studies?  I am quite interested in this subject and would love to find more sources for that type of information.  I may plant the winterberry and buckwheet, and I already have plenty of wild blackberry around.   I've read in several sources that chives are helpful against fungal diseases, so the're recommended to plant under peaches and apples  (for peach leaf curl and scab, respectively).  And I've heard that alyssum is good for various beneficial insects, so I have started those 2 plants under some of my trees.   Some recent article that I read said that hardy marguerite (Anthemis tinctoria) attracted the most beneficials of all plants in the study ...but I don't recall what the other plants were.

Anyway, happy fruit growing to all.  There sure is no shortage of things to be learned!!  Maybe that's why it's so fun.
Sorry for the length of this!  --patsy king

Some years ago I noticed a letter in "Fine Gardening" which said that
the writer had controlled codling moth in a garden planting of apples by
putting in the trees plastic jugs with small openings (openings pointed
horizontal or down to prevent dilution by rain, and alignment with
light) and putting in the jugs a solution which would ferment (maybe
molasses and apple juice, I forget the details). The moths went in but
not out. I haven't tried it, not having any apple trees these days.

Then there is planting to provide hosts for predators and parasites of
apple pest insects. Russian peasants used to plant dill and buckwheat in
their orchards for this purpose.

 read in a Canadian entomological journal of a study by scientists in
the northeastern U.S. who found that Ilex verticillata (common
winterberry, a shrub which likes moist or wet soil, can take some
shade), I think I. laevigata (smooth winterberry, greater tolerance to
drier soil) and I. glabra (inkberry, sandy or peaty soil, prefers sun)
were alternate hosts for a predator of apple maggot (apple fruit fly,
related to cherry fruit fly) and their presence was associated with
reduced numbers of apple maggot. I think I. opaca (tree to 50 feet,
moist soil, shade) also worked but I am not sure.

Scientists in California found that wild blackberry provided an
alternate host for a predator of a grape pest (sorry, can't recall the
details offhand).

K. Leius, a Canadian entomologist found in the 1960s that in some
abandoned orchards in Ontario which he studied, a rich orchard floor
flora with many flowering plants was associated with reduced codling
moth infestation.